by Yamiche Alcindor, USA TODAY

by Yamiche Alcindor, USA TODAY

NEW YORK -- Thousands of dropping ticket prices, last-minute hotel deals and ongoing frigid temperatures have some wondering whether Super Bowl XLVIII will be a super bust for New York and New Jersey.

The average Super Bowl ticket price went from $12,500 to $7,768 and the average hotel room in the two states from $302.30 to $278 in the last few days, according to Connotate. The company, which collects and analyzes Web data, is one of many that have been tracking the quickly decreasing costs.

Experts say the cause of the drops could be many, including the weather, the teams playing and initial overpricing by over zealous businesses.

"When it was first announced, ticket brokers and anyone working in hospitality thought this was going to be an extremely high priced event," said Robert Tuchman, president of Goviva, a sports and entertainment experience company based in New York City. "They set their rates really high."

High at first meant $3,000 nosebleed seats to the first cold-weather Super Bowl played outdoors and four-night hotel minimums in a city that offers an abundance of rooms, Tuchman said.

"People were holding out hope that there would be a big rush for rooms once the teams were announced but I don't think it has happened," he said.

Now reality is setting in and tickets -- some as low as $1,200 -- are the cheapest they have been in more than decade, Tuchman said.

"There are still a lot of tickets out there and as game time approaches, people are getting nervous about the price they are able to get for those tickets," said Keith Cooper, CEO of Connotate.

A similar thing might be happening with hotels. A month ago, Manhattan rates topped 90% above normal, but have now dipped to 55% above the seasonal average, and in New Jersey rates are coming down from a 125% high, according to Priceline.

"It's supply and demand," said David Srere, the co-CEO of global branding firm Siegel+Gale.

The New York/New Jersey area offers 115,000 hotel rooms compared to about 40,000 available for last year's Super Bowl in New Orleans where room rates spiked 143%, according to Priceline.

Some are also wondering if the teams playing this year might be to blame. Srere is convinced that New Yorkers don't care about the game because there's no "drama" involved in the Seattle Seahawks-Denver Broncos matchup. Tuchman offers that it may be that the teams are from so far away that fans might not want to travel to the East Coast.

But, Victor Matheson, an economics professor at the College of the Holy Cross, said Denver's top-ranked offense versus Seattle's top-ranked defense is a great game to watch.

Instead, he says the weather and unrealistic market expectations are what's driving prices down. Matheson added that people aren't as willing to sit in 20-degree weather to watch the game in person when they have great high-definition televisions at home.

"The NFL is really running up against some sort of maximum ticket prices," Matheson said. "You can't expect ticket prices to go up 10 or 15% year after year."

Meanwhile, the NFL has said MetLife Stadium, with a Super Bowl capacity of about 79,000, is sold out. Any tickets selling now are on the secondary market.

New York and New Jersey will also still be making tens of millions of dollars because of the Super Bowl, estimates say.

This means that while last minute deals might be available, businesses will still make lots of money, according to Mark Jaffe, president and CEO of the Greater New York Chamber of Commerce.

His members aren't complaining about prices and the reality is many will do very well, said Jaffe, who sits on the Super Bowl Host Committee.

"People may not be as happy as they thought they were going to be," he said. "There were lofty expectations but I think everybody is going to be happy."